10
10: Corrupted Apprentice
Sora looked out the window of his Doom Buggy, trying to spy the next world he was headed for. The Buggies seemed to be on autopilot; there was no way of controlling where they were going.
Two Buggies over, Jane Porter was using her newly found voice to complain about how rudely she had been kidnapped.
"Then she took my voice and shoved it into her necklace," Jane explained. "I was very put off by this, and I tried to make a grab for the necklace, but she hit me on the side of my head and knocked me unconscious!"
One Buggy behind, Axel stared out the window, wondering what truly HAD become of the Nobodies' hearts…for he had blushed in the last world. BLUSHED. That should simply not have been possible.
Jack Skellington gasped with delight as he recognized the world the Buggies were about to alight upon.
When they finally did touch the cobblestone of a back alley, he leapt out with the energy of a spring, yelling, "It's home!"
"So THIS is Halloween Town," said Riku, clambering out after him.
"Donald," said Goofy, "you've got a lot of clothes to change to help everyone fit in with this world!"
"Mine first, please," growled Xaldin.
Donald surveyed Xaldin's cloak, which was covered with some sort of sludge. "What happened?" he asked, immediately about to wish he hadn't.
"I rode all the way over with Zexion," explained Xaldin, "and no one warned me he gets interspace-sick…"
Zexion wobbled out of his Buggy, looking rather embarrassed with his hand clamped over his mouth. Marluxia had a hand on his back, attempting to comfort him, but the look on the Schemer's face suggested it wasn't working.
Axel wrinkled his nose. "Too. Much. Information."
Donald got right to work designing new outfits for the party. "There we go!" he cried in triumph.
Iago swiveled his head around to look at his new black feathers. "I look like Maleficent's raven."
"Come on!" yelled Skellington, running ahead. "Let's go and see how things are doing!"
"I sure hope Xehanort's influence hasn't gotten here…" Mickey thought out loud.
Hidden in the shadows, barely visible, was the being that was practically the forgotten Enforcer. He had no idea why he was there, except that the other, more powerful Enforcers needed backup in case something went wrong in the Land of Dragons and they couldn't arrive on schedule.
He picked absentmindedly at the wall behind him. He was capable of so much more than this…those idiots just hadn't realized his true potential.
His cell phone rang. He reached down into his bag—which would remain hidden in a nearby bush—to answer it.
"Omega," said the voice of Maleficent as she named the lesser Enforcer by his code name. "This is Alpha."
"What now, Maleficent?"
"It seems we were wise in placing you at the strategic location. Our Doom Buggies have been hijacked, and we cannot find the ship we had intended to use to travel to Halloween Town originally."
"So you want me to do the dirty work now?" He sounded annoyed, but was truly glad that he could finally see some action.
"Not to take prisoners. Goodness knows you can't do that on your own. Just make sure that the plan for Halloween goes as we set it."
"You had better come through and give me my share when this is all over."
"Worry not, Omega. That shall happen."
"It better."
"We are counting on you, Omega. We are sure you will be able to do well, as you blend in with the citizens of that world…"
"You forget, Maleficent. With my powers, I'd say I BLEND IN mostly anywhere."
"Do what you must, Omega."
"Good luck finding that big old hard-to-miss ship you lost, Maleficent," the Enforcer quipped before hanging up.
"Jack! Jack!" The Mayor rushed to his friend, his happy face turned to the front. "You would not believe our good fortune!"
"What is it?" Skellington asked.
"Do you remember the Heartless Halloween we tried to pull off last year?"
"Yes…it failed spectacularly."
"Well, it won't this year! We have found a way to engineer the Heartless so they shall actually work FOR us!"
Skellington's expression showed worry. "Who gave you this idea?"
"Well, the idea came from a bright young intern who now works at City Hall…I can't remember his name at the moment…but we're getting our funding from the generous Chosen One Xehanort! He only wants the best for our Halloween!"
"I doubt that…" murmured Skellington. "Are you sure this isn't going to backfire?"
"Of course I'm sure!" gushed the Mayor. "I should know—I am an elected official! Besides, Xehanort is the Chosen One! He wouldn't steer Halloween Town wrong!"
"I'm not so sure of that," said Skellington. "If I told you to abandon the experiment now, would you listen?"
"Jack, Jack, Jack." The Mayor reached up to put a hand on Skellington's shoulder, but gave up when he realized he was too short to do so. "Trust me. This won't go wrong. Besides, the new intern knows what he's talking about. He's a bright one, that intern…"
A shape in black breezed past, making headway for the graveyard.
"My heart theory is getting proven more and more every minute," Axel mused.
"Yeah," said Myed. "You keep saying INSIGHTFUL stuff. And you're getting THEORIES. This is proof that your other was a geek!"
"No," said Axel. "Did you not notice who just left us and ran for the graveyard?"
Myed looked around. "Zexion's missing…again. How many times can that man run off?"
"Who's gonna go get him this time?" said Axel.
Before Marluxia could put up his hand, it was Mickey who said, "I HAVE to be the one. I know why he ran away…I was there to witness it."
"What are you talking about?" asked Sora.
"He just heard his own story," explained Mickey.
The silver-haired man was dressed as the Phantom of the Opera; the sweeping cape, enigmatic half-mask, and literary allusion fit his aura. This melancholy Phantom was curled up on the ground, leaning against a gravestone.
"Heya, pal," Mickey said as he approached.
Zexion didn't answer, turning so that all Mickey could see of his face was the part obscured by silver hair.
"I know what that sounded like back there," Mickey tried.
"That's what Ansem said about me," said Zexion. "He said I was the brightest of his apprentices. He said he trusted me. I bade him go further with our dangerous experiments. He was wary, but he did it anyway. Because I said so. Because he trusted me. And look where that got us all."
"Aw, we all make mistakes, Zexion," said Mickey.
"You always did have such a naïve view of the worlds," Zexion muttered. "Everything's rainbows and sunshine and forgiveness with you. Well, some things are unforgiveable."
"But Zexion," said Mickey, "don't you see what you have here? You have a chance to stop your own story from happening again!"
This caught Zexion's interest. He finally swiveled his head so his visible eye—framed by the Phantom mask—met Mickey's sympathetic smile. "Go on."
"Maybe if you tell the mayor your story, he'll realize he's makin' a mistake!"
Zexion rose. "Worth a shot. But I'm not hopeful, Mickey."
Skellington and the Mayor were still arguing when the two came back.
"What'd we miss?" Mickey asked.
"Not much," said Sora. "We're kind of waiting for them to come to a conclusion already."
"Myed's bored again," said Axel, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder to where Myed was charming the green water…or whatever it was…out of the town square fountain and making it twist into complicated and beautiful designs.
"Where'd Saïx go?"
"Sitting in a Doom Buggy, pretending to flick a whip at the light spirit and yelling 'Giddy up!'"
"Okay then."
"If I may so intrude…" Zexion walked between Skellington and the Mayor. "Mr. Mayor, sir, you fail to see the powerful influence that an underling can project upon his elders. By succumbing to his opinion instead of your own, you fail to see his naïveté, and may in fact be leading yourself to…" He gulped "…destruction."
"Truly?" said the Mayor. "Well, I shall discuss the matter with him again…warn him not to get cocky…but until I see the harm, I'm going along with this. We may have the best Halloween yet, with the Heartless on our side!"
"The Heartless take no one's side," said Zexion. "Just promise me that at the first sign of corruption, you shall cease the plans."
"All right," the Mayor sighed. "But truly, I see nothing wrong!"
"That's okay," Sora suddenly said. "Just go back to working on it. We'll just walk around for a while and admire the town."
Everyone else wondered what the heck Sora was doing.
The Mayor trotted off gleefully.
"What was that for?" Axel rounded on Sora.
"Well, we weren't getting anywhere with HIM," said Sora, "so I thought we should go to see Dr. Finkelstein. He's the only one around here capable of doing experiments on Heartless, right? So maybe we'd have an easier time getting him to stop it than we would the Mayor!"
"Good thinking, Sora!" cried Jack. "Let's go!"
"All of us?" Goofy asked. "I don't think we can all fit in the Doctor's lab."
"Then just Sora and Mickey and Jack should go," said Axel. "The rest of us will go rest in the Doom Buggies…that is, if we can get Myed away from the 'pretty water'…"
"Hey!" cried Donald. "We're a part of Sora's team!" He motioned to himself and Goofy. "We're not getting left behind!"
"Okay," said Sora. "There'll be room for you two—"
"And us too," insisted Riku, pointing to himself and Kairi.
"All right—"
"And I refuse to be left behind," said Zexion. "I have to see this through."
Sora didn't really know what he meant, but he said "Okay" anyway. "That's probably all we can take," he said to the others.
"Roger, mate," said Sparrow, and he led the rest of the party back to the Doom Buggies while Sora, Mickey, Skellington, Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and Zexion headed for Dr. Finkelstein's laboratory.
"…and so they thought I might keep a watch on you," said the Mayor, "to make sure you weren't corrupt. But we all know that's ridiculous, right?"
"Of course," said the new intern. "Now, there is another idea that has been…well…itching in my brain…"
"Do tell!" The Mayor was always excited to hear his intern's new, brilliant ideas.
"Well, I seem to hear around town that you once tried to own Christmas as well."
"It would have been a great enterprise," said the Mayor, "but it failed miserably, and Jack forbade us from ever doing it again."
"But you wanted to own Christmas?"
"Oh, yes! It would be wonderful if Halloween could extend to Christmas! Or better yet, every holiday! Or better yet, ALL YEAR!"
The lust for power in the Mayor's heart translated into great potential for the intern. He smiled. "That's exactly what I was hoping you would say. And with the help of the Heartless, we can do that."
The intern's grin was wide and toothy, encouraging the Mayor. However, hidden behind the grin was a secret desire to eventually bring down this Mayor…this elected official who was too dense to notice when evil, that is to say the Enforcer Omega, was standing right in front of him.
"What is it?" Finkelstein croaked, wheeling over to the door. "Lock! Shock! Barrel! If this is another one of your pranks where you knock on the door and then bombard me with eggs and toilet paper, I will serve you in a Frog's Breath stew!"
Finkelstein was relieved to see Jack at the door instead of the little pranksters. "Ahhh, Jack," he rasped. "Good to see you. Come, come inside, and bring your friends."
Once they were all seated around a table that Finkelstein normally used to dissect his various experiments but today used to serve tea, the Doctor asked, "So what brings you to my humble laboratory?"
"Well," said Sora, "we heard about the plans for the new Heartless Halloween, and we were wondering if…"
He didn't get a chance to finish the sentence. Finkelstein slammed his delicate fist on the table. "Blast that Mayor!" he cried. "Carrying on what should be my work without me!"
"What?" Riku was stunned, as were the rest of the beings at the table. "Are you saying you're not in charge of the Heartless?"
"Good heavens, no!" cried Finkelstein. "Last time I tried to work with one of those things, it nearly ripped out the remaining half of my brain! No, the Mayor decided to take the experiment into his own hands, even though I am the officially appointed Mad Scientist of Halloween Town! The only one! The Mayor has no right!" Finkelstein paused to think. "Now, if he OFFERED me a chance to work WITH him on the Heartless project, that might be a different story…"
The others downed the rest of their tea. "Thank you," said Jack, "but we really must be going."
Outside, the eight gathered in the street.
"Well," said Kairi, "it looks like we're back to the Mayor again."
"But he won't listen!" said Riku.
"To anyone but his intern, anyway," said Skellington.
"Maybe we can convince HIM that the Heartless project is wrong!" said Sora. "Come on, it's worth a try!"
"It's amazing, the power an assistant can have over his master," mused Mickey. "Zexion knows that all too well."
He expected Zexion to respond, but the Phantom remained silent, a dumbfounded look on his face.
"What?" Sora asked.
Zexion swayed in place as though he was struggling against something. His hands groped about his shoulders, trying to find something that didn't appear to be there.
"Um…what's going on with him?" said Riku, slightly concerned for his benefactor of licorice.
The Lexicon appeared and hovered in front of Zexion's face. It then flew to the area over his left shoulder and hit something unseen with a CRACK! There was a sound as though a body had been flung across the alley.
Zexion turned to glare at the spot where the noise had ended. "I am so…SICK…of being STRANGLED!"
A very odd sound—like a giant mouse was scrabbling its way across the ground, or maybe a lizard—came from the spot. Donald aimed his staff at the area where the noise came from and yelled, "THUNDER!"
A large lightning bolt came down and struck the ground, but it missed. There was a yelp from the spot, followed by the sound of the skittering changing directions and moving out of earshot.
"What was THAT?" Riku asked, bewildered.
"Something invisible snuck up behind me, covered my mouth, and started strangling me!" Zexion screeched.
"INVISIBLE?" Sora cried.
"Well, that's not good!" Goofy observed.
"No duh, Captain Obvious," said Riku.
"We better get to the Mayor's," said Mickey, "the sooner the better!"
A knock came at the Mayor's door. "I better answer that!" the Mayor cried.
"NO!" replied the intern, just coming in from a stroll around the town during which he had gotten some "fresh air". "I mean…this is a delicate process! We wouldn't want it interrupted!"
"But what if it's Jack?" said the Mayor. "If he's finally come around, he could be a huge help…"
"Help…" The Enforcer Omega smiled. He DID need subjects for the machine… "All right. Let him in. But bring him down to the basement when you do. I want to show him the project."
"Jack!" the Mayor cried. "And Sora! And Donald and Goofy! And three people I don't recognize! What a welcome surprise!"
"Mr. Mayor," said Sora, "we wanted to talk to you again about the Heartless."
"Oh, and speaking of the Heartless," said the Mayor, "you simply must come down to the basement and see how the project is coming along!"
"I don't think you understand…" Sora tried to say, but the Mayor was already heading down the stairs.
"Hey!" cried Zexion. "You need to listen to us!" He chased after the Mayor, and the others had no choice but to follow.
The Mayor led the crowd down into a dark, damp cellar. Steam hissed from pipes on the walls. Rats crawled about the ceiling.
"I don't like the looks of this," said Sora.
"Really?" said Jack. "I love what he's done with the place!"
When the group reached the bottom of the stairs, they stopped, stunned at the sight before them. A very strange machine was placed before them, taking up most of the basement. It looked like a great vacuum cleaner turned on its side with extra pipes added to make it creepier. Attached to the end was a cluster of yellow canisters.
"Ah, and here's the young prodigy now!" the Mayor announced, as a tall and lizardlike being slithered out from behind the machine. "Allow me to introduce my incredibly talented apprentice: Randall Boggs!"
"Pleasure to meet you," huffed the impatient Randall.
Zexion winced from hearing the word "apprentice". He had no doubt that Randall was bad news.
"Randall," ordered the Mayor, "go be a dear and fetch our guests some scorpion pastries, will you?"
"Of course," Randall sighed, sounding more than a little reluctant.
"He seems…" Sora began.
"Like trouble," finished Zexion. "For the last time, stop listening to him. This can only end in your own ruin!"
"Oh, what's the worst that could happen?" the Mayor asked.
As if to answer his question, a great spiderweb suddenly rose from the floor like a booby-trap net, creating a swinging sac in which Sora, Jack, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, Riku, Zexion, and Mickey found themselves trapped.
"HEY!" cried Mickey. "What's the big idea?"
"Well, the Scream Extractor isn't going to power itself," said a voice from the corner, where a lever was down as though it had just been pulled…but no one was there.
"Nobody's there," said Goofy.
"Actually," said Kairi, "the Nobody's in the net with us."
"Oh, ha ha ha," groaned Zexion. "As though I haven't heard that one a million times."
"A Scream Extractor?" the Mayor said. "So THAT'S what it is!"
"You IDIOT!" cried Zexion. "You let him build it, and you didn't even know what it WAS? Did you not listen to ANY of my warnings?"
Randall suddenly materialized in the corner near the lever.
"He turns invisible…" muttered Mickey. "I think we know the identity of our unknown attacker!"
"Just so you know," Randall quipped, "the duck has really bad aim."
"So why, again, have you tied up our guests?" asked the Mayor, his sad face turning to the front.
"The Scream Extractor needs living subjects to take the screams from," Randall explained. "The screams are made of pure fear, and fear is the best way to power the most efficient Heartless. In no time, we'll have enough Heartless to conquer all of the Holiday worlds!"
"But will the subjects of the Scream Extractor be okay?" the Mayor asked.
"Not entirely," Randall explained. "They may suffer such side effects as permanent trauma or even loss of heart…"
Sora's eyes widened. He knew that one of Randall's prisoners couldn't possibly handle "permanent trauma" without completely fading away. Not to mention, he didn't want to know what horrors would befall Mickey, Donald, and Goofy if they lost their hearts…or what horrors would befall all of them if Riku, a wielder of the darkness, happened to lose his heart, the force that guided him toward what was right…
"Randall," said the Mayor, "I'm starting to have second thoughts."
"But this will be the first step to everything you ever wanted," said Randall. "Halloween all year round."
"Halloween all year round!" Jack gasped. "But that can't happen! Halloween is supposed to be only ONE day a year! That's what makes it special!"
"I didn't really think people had to get hurt," said the Mayor.
"You said you were willing to do anything!"
"Except hurt people. I didn't really think about that because we're not used to doing it here in Halloween Town."
"You picked a fine time to develop a conscience," Randall growled. Suddenly he was gone.
"Portalled away?" Goofy asked.
"No," Riku whispered in horror. "Invisible."
The Mayor looked from left to right, frightened. He had no idea where the attack was going to come from.
It came from above. A large yellow canister dropped from the ceiling, hitting the Mayor on the head and knocking him out cold. His oddly shaped body hit the ground.
"There's no way he could have survived that…" Kairi mumbled.
"Kairi," assured Sora, "everyone here's dead already. He can't die."
"I forgot about that," said Randall. "Hm…the one who would REALLY know how to deal with these freaks is Hades…he handles the undead all the time…perhaps they really did send the wrong guy for this."
That sent Sora into hysterical laughter.
Randall whirled to glare at him. "WHAT?"
"Sent…the wrong guy…" Sora spit out between guffaws. "That catchphrase is already taken!"
Zexion got it and did something very out of character: he giggled. Just a little bit.
"Enjoy your laughter, then," Randall huffed, turning his attentions back to the machine. "You only have a few minutes left before I feed you to the Extractor anyway…"
Randall suddenly leaned backward, clutching his spine in pain from where the Keyblade had been launched at it. He turned to see all of the prisoners standing behind him, Sora catching the Keyblade which had flown back to him like a boomerang.
"Just some advice," said Riku. "When you're dealing with warriors who can summon their blades from thin air, a net really isn't going to work on them."
"It was a SPIDER WEB," corrected Donald for no reason.
"Idiots," said Randall. He slipped into his invisible form.
"Where'd he go?" Jack asked. He found out the answer immediately; a strong blow from behind reduced him to a pile of bones which went flying in all directions.
"JACK!" Sora cried.
"Don't worry about me!" Jack's skull called out from the corner. "I'll put myself back together! Just get that monster!"
Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Mickey drew their Keyblades. Donald charged his staff with lightning while Goofy twirled his shield. Zexion clutched the all-powerful Lexicon in his right hand.
"Stand with your backs together!" Sora called out. "That way, he can't get us from behind!"
The seven pressed together into a tight circle, weapons facing outward.
"Bring it on, Lizard Boy," Riku growled.
"You think you're so smart," came a voice from the ceiling. Sora launched his Keyblade at it—
And like lightning, Randall zoomed down to the unarmed Sora and put him into a headlock.
"LET HIM GO!" cried Riku. He swung his weapon at where he thought Randall was, but it turned out he actually wasn't, and Soul Eater bit into Sora's flesh instead.
"SORA!"
"I'm all right," Sora coughed. He suddenly felt the pressure release from his neck. "Find him!"
Jack's hands crawled around the floor like spiders, delivering each of his scattered bones to a pile in the corner near his skull.
Kairi took a swing when she heard the skittering of feet, but she missed. "Huh?" she said out loud. "I thought he was walking over—"
She was felled by a blow to the head.
Sora rushed to her, but she stood up and assured him she was fine. "It came from the wall," she told him.
"He can walk on WALLS TOO?" Riku gaped.
"This is just not my day," grumped Donald. A roundhouse kick was delivered to his head, sending him flying across the room. "WAAAHAHAAAAK!"
Zexion was angered beyond belief at that time. He lifted his hands into the air, and the Lexicon floated between them.
Sora knew what that meant. "HIT THE DIRT!"
The heroes hit the ground just in time before a shockwave of energy emanated from the small book and covered everything over three feet off the floor. The room shook.
"That really hurt," said a voice from the East wall. Zexion spun to hurl the book at the East wall, but Randall's charade worked again. The canister came flying from the right.
Zexion collapsed to the ground, his thin frame pinned beneath the heavy canister.
Riku charged the place where the canister had come from, but Randall was gone again. Soul Eater was simply driven into the wall. Riku tried to pry the weapon free, but he couldn't. Sora rushed to assist him; between the two of them, they managed to dislodge the blade from the wall. They stood back-to-back until a prompt from Mickey caused them to leap in opposite directions as a canister crashed down into the spot where they had both been standing.
Goofy crouched down with his shield over his head to protect it from falling canisters.
Zexion panted through gritted teeth: "That's…it." With a tremendous effort, he shrugged the canister off his frail body. He stood and screamed, "ONE OF US HAS TO FIND YOU!"
A plethora of Zexion clones erupted from the original, rushing about the room in a mad scramble for the chameleon-like monster.
"No use," said Mickey. "He'll be on the ceiling!"
"Then the clones will keep him there," Zexion explained. "And just to be safe…" He snapped his fingers, and the clones grabbed every remaining canister in the room. Randall was deprived of ammunition.
It was Sora who had the idea at last. With the canisters gone, Randall would resort to physical attacks…
He climbed up on the seat of the Scream Extractor and cried, "Take this!" before flinging his Keyblade at a corner of the ceiling.
"You idiot!" Riku cried. "What are you doing? You don't know if he's there!"
Randall spied Sora, unarmed once more, and dropped upon him like a spider.
Sora was ready. He quickly grabbed the reptile around the waist and struggled with him until he had ahold of the head. Sora then forced the monster into the seat of the Extractor, belted him in…
"What are you doing?" Randall screamed. "NO!"
Sora rushed to the control panel of the machine. He wasn't sure how it worked, but in situations like that, the best idea was usually to press the big red button, so that's what he did.
The vacuum slowly moved toward Randall's mouth.
The clones replaced the canisters in the machine's edge so the screams would have someplace to go.
"No!" Randall cried. "You can't DO this!"
Sora and company tried not to look at him as they rushed over to Jack. In no time, between Sora, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Kairi, Riku, Zexion, and all of the clones, Jack's bones had been pieced together like a life-size jigsaw.
The Mayor came to. "What happened?" he asked. His eyes fell on the struggling Randall, who had abandoned his invisibility and was looking paler than a summer cloud. "On second thought, I don't want to know."
"Come on," said Jack, looking sternly at the Mayor. "We need to talk."
He led the group upstairs, leaving Randall to give his muffled cries for help.
"And Zexion even warned you!" Jack chided. "But you didn't listen!"
"But the prospect of Halloween's expansion…" the Mayor tried.
"Is nothing compared to the many beings you almost hurt!" Jack argued.
"Well, don't blame me!" the Mayor bawled. "I'm only an elected official!"
Jack grinned. "That's right," he said. "You are an ELECTED official. That means someone can take your place in the elections next year."
"But who could possibly run that would be more popular than me?" the Mayor asked.
That was the wrong question.
Jack gathered the many citizens of Halloween Town around the fountain of sludge in the Town Square. "Fellow citizens of Halloween Town!" he cried. "I have come to formally announce that I am running for Mayor in the next election!"
The cheering that erupted from the crowd was reminiscent of a sonic boom.
Needless to say, the Mayor wore his sad face for quite a while after that.
"I think he'll make a great Mayor," said Kairi. All of a sudden, she pressed her hands to her head.
"What's wrong?" Sora asked.
"It's happening again…"
Kairi hit the ground.
Sora carried the limp princess all the way back to the Doom Buggies. He climbed back into the one he and Kairi had shared and lay her across the leather seat for her comfort.
"Did she mean that there was another attack on the Heart of All Worlds?" Riku asked.
His question was answered for him. There came a violent rumbling, as though all of the multiverse was quaking.
"Get in the buggy!" yelled Mickey.
Everyone of the resistance struggled to get inside the Doom Buggies and slam the doors. They did so just in time.
Everything that was a part of Halloween Town stayed in Halloween Town. A few beings fell over; some broke bones. A few rickety buildings collapsed, leaving a few ghosts in search of someplace new and just as decrepit to haunt.
However, the Doom Buggies were a form of travel through darkness. That being so, they were tied to the routes BETWEEN the worlds, and not fixed down to any one particular world.
Sora didn't know it was going to happen before it did, but he felt as though something terrible was about to occur. He quickly sat down and pulled Kairi's head onto his lap, holding her close.
As the quaking increased, all of the Doom Buggies were flung off the surface of Halloween Town and out into interspace, completely upside down.